NYC Teacher Suspended After Appeal - Update

(New York City) Veteran teacher Christine Rubino appealed her firing to the Manhattan Supreme Court and the decision was overturned.

Justice Barbara Jaffe said the firing was too harsh.

While “offensive” and “repulsive,” Jaffe concluded, Rubino’s remarks were made outside the school building, after hours, and were only circulated among adult Facebook friends.

As a result, Department of Education arbitrator Randi Lowitt imposed a punishment of a two-year suspension without pay.

Lowitt imposed the suspension not because of the Facebook post but because Rubino attempted to get a friend to claim authorship of the post. So, the punishment is the result of the attempted coverup, not the initiating incident. Lowitt tagged Rubino's "lying and obfuscation" as conduct unbecoming a teacher.

Rubino plans to appeal the suspension.

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NYC Teacher Fired for Facebook Entry
[Previous 6/26/11 post]
(Brooklyn, New York) A 38-year-old teacher at PS 203, Christine Rubino, has been fired after posting inappropriate comments on Facebook.

An arbitrator found Rubino guilty of conduct unbecoming a teacher for suggesting in a Facebook entry that she would be glad if her students drowned.

Rubino posted the comment on June 23, 2010, the day after a 12-year-old Harlem girl, Nicole Suriel, drowned on a Long Island school trip.

"After today, I'm thinking the beach sounds like a wonderful idea for my 5th graders. I HATE THEIR GUTS! They are all the devils spawn!" fumed the 38-year-old teacher at PS 203 in Flatlands.

Rubino filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education claiming her dismissal was excessive punishment.